Radiation by Fiona Rae

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Radiation: Medium blog whisperer

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  • Graeme Edgeler,

    It's a play-off game - this is the kinda thing it's okay to have a show bumped for - if still a little annoying.

    Speaking of Weeds, 'though - have a look at this nice collection of the changing opening credits.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Has NZ got the second series? Aust has only had the first - very good it was. So far, 9 hasn't completely fucked around with the scheduling of the Sopranos but it's only been 3 episodes so there's time.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Stowell,

    We're on the second series now...
    Yeah, I can accept no Weeds for a week, but I'm not about to enjoy the Warriors letting through quite so many softish points...
    And someone shld tell Prime their Weeds site is "owned by zanguda" - or is that how it's meant to be?

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    So far, 9 hasn't completely fucked around with the scheduling of the Sopranos but it's only been 3 episodes so there's time.

    Sheesh, and I thought we got it late?!

    Speaking of, I watched the entire series at the weekend (I'd been saving them up on HDDDVR so I could watch them back-to-back)(**Spoiler alert Paul! click away now!!**) and can't help but give my 2ยข worth on the ending -- even tho' everyone else has already, and its a dead topic. (One I'm not trying to resurrect, I'm just venting)

    In watching all the episodes back-to back (ok, I did break for a 3hr sleep at 2am) you really get a better sense of flow/continuity that you do watching one hour a week. Patterns/threads emerge and are much more obvious.

    I can't say definitively that Tony gets wacked at the end but I think in all likelihood he does. But that creator David Chase then decided not to go with the 'easy' or 'desired' finish, so instead chose to cut to black.

    In the diner are 3 cub scouts, all wearing B&W caps, sitting in a booth behind the Soprano family. They're the same type of caps the hitmen (working for Phil in previous eps) wore when they wacked the rest of Tony's crew (and others). Yeah, Phil was already dead but that doesn't mean the hit on Tony wasn't continued. Tony had significant gambling debts and wasn't making as much money for the family as he was previously. So I can imagine that those caps could have just as easily popped up behind Tony, but this time its the hitmen, not the cub scouts (who are still in their booth) and shot Tony. Filmakers love pulling tricks like that.

    The flipside is that Crane just stopped typing the script and finished with 'The End'. The chorus of that song by Journey was "it goes on and on and on" and Crane was possibly tired of this series he didn't intend to run so long (HBO kept throwing bigger money at him for each new series). Witness the therapy sessions with both Tony and his son Anthony where both whine about what empty hopeless lives they lead. This is capped off by Tony's therapist finally realising that it's been 7 years of talk therapy without any result. Followed by the study which claims psychopaths are only emboldened/validated by such treatment, not 'cured'. This is possibly Crane's melancholy that after all these years he's just glamourised the Mafia, rather than 'shining a light on their evil deeds'.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    okay, here's something you can comment on/reply to ...

    After the Sopranos marathon (and another 4 hr sleep) I then embarked on an OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE marathon, watching the last 12 eps back to back. And dare I say ...

    ... the show does not stack up as any great televisual art. The writing is cliche and the characters are both stereotypical and stereotypically acted. Is it comedy or is it drama? Dramedy? Puh-lease! The funniest bit was seeing a gang member bawling his eyes out in the pub. Yeah, right.

    The writers are clearly delivering what they think the public will accept (ie rough as guts characters, on the wrong side of the law but still heart-of-gold) but maybe they should have set the show in the 80s or 70s. These days it's a lot grimmer than OT pretends to reveal.

    And when in doubt, throw in yet another sex scene. Damn them white trash sure love to fuck!

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    The writers are clearly delivering what they think the public will accept (ie rough as guts characters, on the wrong side of the law but still heart-of-gold) but maybe they should have set the show in the 80s or 70s. These days it's a lot grimmer than OT pretends to reveal.

    Well of course. If it had real P-head characters it wouldn't be funny at all. Ditto if people spoke exactly how they spoke in real life. But it's not The Wire, it's comedy drama. The thing I enjoy about it is the way the writers and storyliners juggle the two elements.

    The closest comparison is probably with Shameless (although I am given to understand OR was developed before its creators ever saw Shameless), which is a very fond view of life on a Mancunian housing estate, with vomiting, drug use, bad behaviour and affecting moments with sympathetic characters.

    Last week's Madeleine Sami episode of OR wasn't exactly gritty realism, but it was bloody hysterical. And are you really saying that Cheryl West isn't an iconic character?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    Last week's Madeleine Sami episode of OR wasn't exactly gritty realism, but it was bloody hysterical. And are you really saying that Cheryl West isn't an iconic character?

    Well, the Sami ep had a chuckle or two but it wasn't sidesplitting. Not that I'm expecting that. I suppose I'm looking for a more wry, dry humour (Ricky Gervais) than the cheap laughs in OT. You can see their 'gags' coming a mile off.
    I loved the first series of OT but in watching them back-to-back you really start to spot the holes. That was my point (obviously poorly made). Contrast the characters in OT with FOT Conchords ... equally as over the top but somehow more enjoyable.

    Maybe it's just me. I recall my first viewing of Once Were Warriors and thinking 'this is arse' when we saw the heavily moko'ed (stylised) gang members working out in their homemade gym - all engine blocks and #8 wire.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Venetia King,

    OR ? OT ? Isn't it OF ?

    On a completely different topic, Fiona's mention in the Listener that UKTV are going to screen the Hornblower telefilms again led me to wonder how many Battlestar Galactica fans have noticed the connection... Before he was Captain Apollo, Jamie Bamber played the slightly pathetic and very British Archie Kennedy, Horatio Hornblower's very good friend - I was quite surprised when I realised Apollo was an Englishman, he does a pretty convincing job of the accent.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 117 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    heh heh heh ...

    does anyone know when the Emmys are screening here in NZ?

    Best Acceptance Speech Ever (scroll down for...)

    "A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Can you believe this shit? Hell has frozen over. Suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now." -- Kathy Griffin, accepting an Emmy award for her show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List.

    Reportedly, the show will be censored to edit out part or all of Griffin's acceptance speech after protests by Catholic League windbag, Bill Donohue.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Kathy Griffin is so great. I used to love watching her smart-arsery when I lived in the USA. I must contact my Friends in America for My Life on the D-List.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

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